Posts Tagged ‘Winning’
What you get when you buy a lottery ticket
Tags: Psychology, Winning
People who buy lotterly tickets don’t do it to become millionaires or to get a better live.
They know the chances of winning are infinitely small. And they know that millionaires don’t have necessarily better lives in the conventional meaning of the word, they aren’t happy and lottery winners keep buying lottery tickets.
What you get what you buy a lottery ticket is the thrill, the reward that comes with anticipation, the same thing that happens more or less with first dates, a new job, planning a trip. You know it probably won’t change your life or put you in a new direction – but for a brief moment, it might!
Tags: Psychology, Winning
Square one: a happy place
Tags: Culture, Don Quixote, English language, Lifestyle Experiment, Loss, Psychology, Winning
Hopscotch
We feel bad when we have to tell someone that the project isn’t going anywhere and that we will have to go back to square one.
Why do we dread this phrase, or this stage in life and work? What would the alternative be? To march headstrong forward in a direction that has no hope?
Our culture has cultivated the message of winning. But sometimes we get blinded by the idea of winning – no-one can win all the time. Losing isn’t bad – it is part of the process. Admitting that you are lost and returning to square one can be the most productive thing you can do that day. The alternative is becoming a modern day Don Quixote, fighting phantoms and winning illusionary battles…
So Square One isn’t such a bad place after all, nor should we dread returning there…
Tags: Culture, Don Quixote, English language, Lifestyle Experiment, Loss, Psychology, Winning
An iron will could lead to depression
Tags: America, Culture, Depression, Psychology, Winning
“Where there is a will, there is a way”. Cultures that promote determination surely are spreading a positive message, but to phrase the message with the lack of nuance that is inherit to the famous saying could lead many astray. As with all things in life, a healthy attitude towards our challenges requires a more subtle attitude.
Randloph Nesse
Randolph Nesse hypothesizes that, just as physical pain stops us from repeating experiences that could hurt us, emotional pain tries to dissuade us from continued emotionally harmful experiences, in particular, pursuing unreachable goals. He argues that low mood is part of a mechanism acquired through our evolution that robs us from energy when we repeatedly fail. In this period of low motivation energy is saved and new goals can be found. If this mechanism does not function properly, though, severe depression can be the consequence.
Dr. Nesse believes that persistence is a reason for the exceptional level of clinical depression in America – the country has the highest depression rate in the world. “Persistence is part of the American way of life,” he says, “People here are often driven to pursue overly ambitious goals, which can lead to depression.”
There is nothing wrong with persistence, as long as it is a persistent effort to find a reachable goal. Perhaps the saying should be rephrased to say: “Where there is a positive will, one could find a plausible way to a successful venture through trial and error.” But who would ever quote a phrase like that?
Tags: America, Culture, Depression, Psychology, Winning